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Well. I wouldn't say I got sense out of all these sections. But by god, if I have to translate all this Cicero, then someone else gets to read it. Or try to read it. Sort of like I tried to translate it.
In any case, we've jumped on a few sections.
37. “And I must give warning about these things for this reason: so that if not all things which I propose towards your studies and towards that type of thing which ought to belong to each of you in speaking should stick, you will feel that I am putting forth this category which is most appropriate for me personally. Therefore even these things which Antonius explained must be done by the orator, and by a certain method of speaking. Therefore what in the world is a better method of speaking--for I will see to performance afterward--than for us to speak purely*, clearly, ornately, properly and suitably towards that thing, whatever it is we do?
38. “And so indeed I do not think that I am expecting the method of these things, which two I first mentioned, with a pure and clear speech. For we do not try to teach speaking to one who doesn’t know how to talk, nor hope to one who cannot talk purely, nor this manner of speaking ornately or truly to one who does not say what we can understand, or this ability of speaking which we admire. Therefore let us forsake these things, which involve easy understanding, and indispensable use. For the one is taught with the alphabet and childhood instruction, and the other is put to use for this cause: so that it is understood what each man says, which we thus see to be necessary, so that nevertheless nothing can be less than this.
39. “But all elegance of speaking, although it is refined by the science of literature, nevertheless is augmented by legendary orators and poets. For the men of old, who were not yet able to prettify what they said, were almost all very clear speakers; and they used their speech in such a manner that they were not able to even desire to speak except with purity. Nevertheless, it ought not be used by these words to which our usage is now not accustomed, except to such a degree for ornamenting sparingly, as I will show; but he is able to use the usual words thus, that he uses them in a most learned manner, who was in the old letters studiously and most immersed in thought.
40. “And so, as we speak purely, not only must it be seen, so that we utter these words, which no one justly reproaches, and thus we preserve them in case and tense and number and gender, so that nothing is disturbed and changed or made ridiculous, but also the language and breath and sound of the voice itself must be moderated.
41. “I do not want letters to be expressed too affectedly, I do not want them carelessly muddled; I do not want words to go forth in a listless exhale, I do not want them inflated and almost destroyed with gravity. For I do not speak these things about the voice yet, which are of implementation, but I do say this, which seems to me to be somewhat joined with my speech. For there are certain vices, which no one does not wish to avoid: a rather soft voice, or a womanly one, or an unharmonious one almost beyond measure, or an absurd one.
42. “Moreover it is vice, which some men pursue by design: a rustic voice even pleases some farmers, by which their speech seems to retain a more old-fashioned air, if it sounds like that; as your friend L. Cotta, Catulus, seems to me to enjoy a clumsiness of expression and the sound of a farmer’s voice and thinks that form of speaking will be seen as old-fashioned, as if he were actually rustic. However, your voice and its subtlety please me, I pass over it in words, although it is the main thing; this method conveys the truth, literature teaches it, custom confirms it both in reading and in speaking; but I speak of this subtlety, which comes from the mouth; which indeed as it was among the Attic Greeks, thus is most greatly appropriate in the pure speech of this city.**
43. “Although for a long time the teaching of the Athenians themselves has been lost in Athens, such a great home of the teachings remains in that city, which the citizens are not occupied with, but tourists enjoy being seized in a certain way by the name and authority of the city; nevertheless anyone taught not with the Athenian words, but with the sound of a voice speaking not so much well as sweetly, easily overcame the most learned Asiatic men. Our men study literature less than the Latins do; nevertheless, from those men, whom those of our city, in which literature-study is the least, there is no one but the most literate of all toga-clad men, Q. Valerius Sonarus, conquers by smoothness of voice and the very articulation of the mouth and the easy sound.
44. “For this reason, since a certain true voice of the Roman people and City is appropriate, in which nothing can be offensive, nothing displaced, nothing made displeasing, nothing sounding or smelling alien, let us follow this and not just rustic harshness, but let us even learn to flee an insolent strangeness.
45. “Indeed whenever I hear my mother-in-law Laelia--for women easily preserve the uncorrupted ancient way of speaking, which they always have, being inexperienced in the speeches of many men, since they don’t know many--but I heard her thus, as it seems to me to hear Plautus or Naeuius;*** from this, then, I discern the speaking of her father, thus her ancestors; not rough as that man whom I mentioned, not uncultivated, not rustic, not gaping, but articulated and even and smooth.
46. “For this reason our Cotta, whose broad sounds you, Sulpicius, sometimes imitate, as you bear the letter iota and speak the epsilon very fully, seems to me not to imitate the ancient orators, but the yokels.”
Here after Sulpicius had laughed, Crassus said, “I go like this with you all, so that since you wanted me to speak, you would hear something about your own vices.”
“What indeed!” that man said. “For we want this very thing, and if you should do this, we will have many vices, as you think, on this day. “
---
* The word used here is actually “Latine”; after all, if you’re speaking Latin purely, you’re speaking it in a Latin manner, right? On the advice of the notes, I’m translating that as “purely” throughout, though it does cause a small overlap with the text’s use of the adjective “purus” and so forth. Really, there are a lot of synonyms going on here, and the specific nuances distinguishing what I’ve translated as “properly” and what I’ve rendered as “suitably” are still beyond me at this point.
** That is, the Latin spoken in Rome is as awesome for oratory as the Greek spoken in Athens.
*** Old Roman playwrights. My notes say that even Cicero’s audience would have found this rather old-fashioned, being the idea that women preserve old forms of speech because they don’t go around talking with people in the city in the modern way.
In any case, we've jumped on a few sections.
37. “And I must give warning about these things for this reason: so that if not all things which I propose towards your studies and towards that type of thing which ought to belong to each of you in speaking should stick, you will feel that I am putting forth this category which is most appropriate for me personally. Therefore even these things which Antonius explained must be done by the orator, and by a certain method of speaking. Therefore what in the world is a better method of speaking--for I will see to performance afterward--than for us to speak purely*, clearly, ornately, properly and suitably towards that thing, whatever it is we do?
38. “And so indeed I do not think that I am expecting the method of these things, which two I first mentioned, with a pure and clear speech. For we do not try to teach speaking to one who doesn’t know how to talk, nor hope to one who cannot talk purely, nor this manner of speaking ornately or truly to one who does not say what we can understand, or this ability of speaking which we admire. Therefore let us forsake these things, which involve easy understanding, and indispensable use. For the one is taught with the alphabet and childhood instruction, and the other is put to use for this cause: so that it is understood what each man says, which we thus see to be necessary, so that nevertheless nothing can be less than this.
39. “But all elegance of speaking, although it is refined by the science of literature, nevertheless is augmented by legendary orators and poets. For the men of old, who were not yet able to prettify what they said, were almost all very clear speakers; and they used their speech in such a manner that they were not able to even desire to speak except with purity. Nevertheless, it ought not be used by these words to which our usage is now not accustomed, except to such a degree for ornamenting sparingly, as I will show; but he is able to use the usual words thus, that he uses them in a most learned manner, who was in the old letters studiously and most immersed in thought.
40. “And so, as we speak purely, not only must it be seen, so that we utter these words, which no one justly reproaches, and thus we preserve them in case and tense and number and gender, so that nothing is disturbed and changed or made ridiculous, but also the language and breath and sound of the voice itself must be moderated.
41. “I do not want letters to be expressed too affectedly, I do not want them carelessly muddled; I do not want words to go forth in a listless exhale, I do not want them inflated and almost destroyed with gravity. For I do not speak these things about the voice yet, which are of implementation, but I do say this, which seems to me to be somewhat joined with my speech. For there are certain vices, which no one does not wish to avoid: a rather soft voice, or a womanly one, or an unharmonious one almost beyond measure, or an absurd one.
42. “Moreover it is vice, which some men pursue by design: a rustic voice even pleases some farmers, by which their speech seems to retain a more old-fashioned air, if it sounds like that; as your friend L. Cotta, Catulus, seems to me to enjoy a clumsiness of expression and the sound of a farmer’s voice and thinks that form of speaking will be seen as old-fashioned, as if he were actually rustic. However, your voice and its subtlety please me, I pass over it in words, although it is the main thing; this method conveys the truth, literature teaches it, custom confirms it both in reading and in speaking; but I speak of this subtlety, which comes from the mouth; which indeed as it was among the Attic Greeks, thus is most greatly appropriate in the pure speech of this city.**
43. “Although for a long time the teaching of the Athenians themselves has been lost in Athens, such a great home of the teachings remains in that city, which the citizens are not occupied with, but tourists enjoy being seized in a certain way by the name and authority of the city; nevertheless anyone taught not with the Athenian words, but with the sound of a voice speaking not so much well as sweetly, easily overcame the most learned Asiatic men. Our men study literature less than the Latins do; nevertheless, from those men, whom those of our city, in which literature-study is the least, there is no one but the most literate of all toga-clad men, Q. Valerius Sonarus, conquers by smoothness of voice and the very articulation of the mouth and the easy sound.
44. “For this reason, since a certain true voice of the Roman people and City is appropriate, in which nothing can be offensive, nothing displaced, nothing made displeasing, nothing sounding or smelling alien, let us follow this and not just rustic harshness, but let us even learn to flee an insolent strangeness.
45. “Indeed whenever I hear my mother-in-law Laelia--for women easily preserve the uncorrupted ancient way of speaking, which they always have, being inexperienced in the speeches of many men, since they don’t know many--but I heard her thus, as it seems to me to hear Plautus or Naeuius;*** from this, then, I discern the speaking of her father, thus her ancestors; not rough as that man whom I mentioned, not uncultivated, not rustic, not gaping, but articulated and even and smooth.
46. “For this reason our Cotta, whose broad sounds you, Sulpicius, sometimes imitate, as you bear the letter iota and speak the epsilon very fully, seems to me not to imitate the ancient orators, but the yokels.”
Here after Sulpicius had laughed, Crassus said, “I go like this with you all, so that since you wanted me to speak, you would hear something about your own vices.”
“What indeed!” that man said. “For we want this very thing, and if you should do this, we will have many vices, as you think, on this day. “
---
* The word used here is actually “Latine”; after all, if you’re speaking Latin purely, you’re speaking it in a Latin manner, right? On the advice of the notes, I’m translating that as “purely” throughout, though it does cause a small overlap with the text’s use of the adjective “purus” and so forth. Really, there are a lot of synonyms going on here, and the specific nuances distinguishing what I’ve translated as “properly” and what I’ve rendered as “suitably” are still beyond me at this point.
** That is, the Latin spoken in Rome is as awesome for oratory as the Greek spoken in Athens.
*** Old Roman playwrights. My notes say that even Cicero’s audience would have found this rather old-fashioned, being the idea that women preserve old forms of speech because they don’t go around talking with people in the city in the modern way.